


Seasons

by diredragon



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blind Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Talon Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, mostly blind anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-24 08:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12008529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diredragon/pseuds/diredragon
Summary: After all these years, Jack is still hopelessly in love with the man he once called his own.





	1. Chapter 1

Looking back on his life, Jack had never expected it to turn out like this.

As the seasons changed, as humid summer turned into bitter winter, he found himself changing with them in ways he’d never imagined. He’d always been a soldier, always willing to serve and do what was best for the people. No. Not the people, he decides; for his family.

For Lena, for Angela, for Winston. Most importantly, for Gabriel.

The thought makes his chest hurt, and so he takes a drag of the cigarette he’s holding, instead focusing on the acrid taste and the burning in his lungs. If they could see him now, they’d be ashamed, he decides.

Shaky fingers push through grey hair, before he unclips his visor and places it on the wall he’s leaning against. Immediately the world goes blurry around him, barely seeing eyes staring blankly ahead, and Jack feels lost. A part of him wishes he could just leave this place, return to Overwatch, to his family. But he knows it wouldn’t be the same. And after all he’s done, he realises with an ache in his heart, he doubts they would want him back.

Jack sighs, takes another drag of his cigarette. And another, until he lets the stub fall from his fingers, crushing it against the floor with his boot. He lights another one. The flicker of flame from his lighter is the only source of warmth in the frosty outdoor air.

He doesn’t need to see to recognise the figure that opens the glass door in front of him. The blurred black figure steps outside, shuts the door behind him. They look at one another in silence. Jack breathes in the smoke, breathes it out, his heart thudding a little quicker. As it always does when he’s near him.

“You should be getting ready, Morrison.”

The words make Jack’s chest ache with longing, head rushing back to the days when he would call him words of adoration, rather than speaking so officially. So unattached.

“I am ready.” Is all he rumbles in response, and silence falls over them again.

Slowly, the masked figure approaches him, taking the stub of a cigarette out of Jack’s hand and dropping it to the icy floor. Clawed hands make their way to his hips, and a sigh falls from him, letting his eyes close. He tries to pretend that things are different, that the man would kiss him sweetly and gently reassure him that things were going to be okay. Neither of those things happen.

Instead, Jack opens his eyes, staring at the figure before him. He raises his gloved hands to the skull mask covering his face, and when he’s not stopped, he gently lifts it and places it beside him, beside his visor on the wall. The hands on his hips tighten.

Being so close, he can vaguely make out his face. His dark skin, his unkept beard, the scars marring his features. He gently lets his thumb trace one on his cheek, feeling the cold skin.

“What are you doing, Jack?”

“What happened to us, Gabe?” The shorter man counters his words with a question he expects no answer to. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t receive an answer.  

When Gabriel doesn’t reply, Jack pushes the boundaries by leaning forwards and pressing their lips together. He’s cold and unresponsive for a long moment, and Jack sighs when the other man kisses him back, giving in to his whims. With his eyes closed, he can pretend for a moment that they’re back where they used to be. Jack can pretend that they’re standing in his office at the Overwatch base. He can pretend that they’re kissing with meaning and passion, that the love he feels is mutual between them. He can almost feel Gabriel’s hands exploring his body, his lips brushing against his as he whispers ‘ _mine_ ’. But in reality, the kiss is just cold and meaningless, so he pulls back and keeps his eyes shut.

The silence is suffocating, and desperation rises in his chest.

When he’d discovered that Gabriel, his best friend, the love of his life, was still alive, he’d felt his world crash around him. Especially as Gabriel was no longer that man, but instead the shadowy figure of Reaper. But Jack had hung onto the stupid hope that they could still be together, as they were always meant to be. He’d left everything behind, everything he’d fought for, to join Talon and be with Gabriel. And still, it wasn’t the same. He’s unsure why he’d expected it to be the same.

His doubts are quickly silenced as Gabriel presses their bodies together, and Jack opens his eyes to survey the other man, unseeing blue meeting dark brown.

“Come, mi amor,” Gabriel murmurs, knowing exactly how to twist Jack back around his little finger. “It’s time to go.”

And just like that, he leaves as silently as he had arrived, not before picking his mask back up and hiding his features with it again.

Jack clenches his hands into fists, teeth gritted together, before he sighs again. Inhale, exhale. Like he had been trained to do, he falls back into soldier mode, slotting his visor back into place. He picks up his pulse rifle, and breathes again.

He wonders if this is how he would spend the rest of his damned life, chasing after a shadow he could no longer have.

As he walks towards the glass door and sees his reflection, a broken image of the man he once was, Jack decides that it was worth it. For every extra day he gets to see Gabriel, it was worth it. It has to be.

Looking back on his life, Jack had never expected it to turn out like this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wasn't going to continue this fic, but it kinda happened. i'm planning to write several short chapters about jack being in talon, probably about 6? we'll see

Jack washes his hands six times before he’s convinced he’s gotten all the blood out from beneath his fingernails.

Everything in his head feels like static, an indecipherable mess that he doesn’t want to decrypt. When he opens his eyes, he’s greeted with the blurry sight of his scarred hands gripping the basin of the sink. The ceramic is cold beneath his grasp.

He should be glad, perhaps even grateful, to have this blood on his hands. Not for the reasons that Talon wants, not at all. Talon wanted that man dead for… well, who knows what Talon really wants? But Jack had his own motives. They were how he found himself punching the former UN auditors face until he felt bones crack, Reaper and the rest of the team watching over him in silence.  It hadn’t been until Gabriel approached, stopping him with a firm ‘enough’. Only then had Jack risen back to his feet, using gloves that he didn’t remember pulling off to wipe blood from his visor. He hadn’t looked at Widowmaker and Sombra’s faces as he walked past them, suddenly desperate to get out of the building and away from their cold yet curious eyes.

With all the years that had passed, he couldn’t help but continue to blame any member of the UN for the fall of Overwatch, even if in his heart he knows if it was anyone’s fault, it was his. Perhaps that was why he had done it. The man had been a goner anyway, with Talon after him, so he might as well take his anger out on him, right? The thought didn’t stop his hands from shaking as he turned off the tap before reaching for a towel.

Wearily, he turns off the light as he leaves the bathroom, leaving his visor on the cabinet next to the sink. Jack walks over to his bed, picking his bloodied gloves up from where he’d dumped them earlier and tossing them into the bin. He’d get a new pair soon. There was no point holding onto more reminders of his mistakes.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep. He’s awoken to the sound of his door opening, someone stepping inside, closing the door behind them.

The bed creaks as someone sits down beside him.

Groaning, Jack rubs at his eyes as he rolls onto his back, squinting up at his visitor.

“Can’t even undress yourself now?” Gabriel. Of course it was Gabriel. And of course Jack had managed to fall asleep fully dressed. “Sit up.”

Jack does as he’s told, regarding the man sat beside him with caution, not quite sure what to expect from him.  He was never sure what to expect from him anymore.

Jack watches the other man quietly as he leans over and undoes the zip of his leather jacket, sliding it off Jack’s shoulders. Gabriel looked… softer than usual, calmer than he felt he’d seen him in a while. He was wearing jogging bottoms and a black hoodie, and Jack finds himself reaching out and brushing his fingers against the soft fabric. He moves his hand away as Gabriel lifts off his t-shirt for him.

“Gabriel…” He starts, but he gets hushed immediately. Gabriel had never exactly been a chatty person, and was even less so nowadays, but Jack was used to it. He didn’t mind it, even. He sighs, and settles back down on the bed.

Gabriel lies down next to him, and it immediately feels like they were back in SEP; except a lot had changed since then, and he sighs as he looks at Gabriel’s scarred face. Eventually, Jack closes his eyes and falls back asleep to the feeling of Gabriel’s warm breath on his face.

There was still blood on his hands.

Jack wakes with a start, limbs getting tangled in the blanket covering him as he sits up abruptly. The panic rising in his brain only worsens when he realises he can’t see, anything at all, the room was pitch black and-

A hand grabs his, and he flinches away from the grip, wildly looking to his side. In the dark, he could faintly make out Gabriel’s face, and as his eyes adjust he can see moonlight peeking out from beneath the closed curtain.

The panic quickly fades to a numb fog, and he takes a breath – more of a gasp, really – of air as he tries to slow his heartrate.

“Fuck,” He breathes, closing his eyes. Gabriel’s hand finds his again, and this time he doesn’t flinch away. It was okay, he was in bed with the only person that mattered right now and they were safe. As safe as they were getting, anyway.

Slowly, Jack settles back down against the mattress, rolling over onto his side so when he opened his eyes again, he could just focus on Gabriel. Dark eyes meet his, and he hesitantly reaches to rest a hand on his cheek.

“How long have I been asleep for?” He asks quietly when he finally manages to find his voice. He hadn’t expected the other man to still be here when he had woken up. For a moment, he wonders if Gabriel had even slept.

“Only a few hours.” The reply he receives is equally as quiet; gentle, almost. “Nightmares?”

“Nightmares,” Jack whispers back, swallowing heavily. An old routine of theirs. It wasn’t rare that back when they were in Overwatch – no, even before then, when they were in SEP – that one of them would awaken in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, gasping for air. Despite things being different, very different now, he feels closer to Gabriel than ever.

All he could hope was that he felt the same way.

It was Gabriel that leaned in first this time, softly pressing their lips together, and Jack finds himself relaxing against the touch. Arms wrap around him and pull his body in close, and after a few minutes Jack leans away to pull the blanket back up over him. Gabriel’s skin was cold to the touch, though he hardly wanted to point that out. He wanted to enjoy every private moment he could get with him. Jack nuzzles his face into his neck, feeling his body relax in the familiar position.

When he next opens his eyes, there’s light filtering in from behind the curtain.

He’s still being held tightly against the taller man’s body, and he finds himself smiling at the sounds of gentle snores rising from him.

How long had it been since they had last shared a bed?

Jack ponders on the question as he wriggles back slightly in Gabriel’s arms, just enough so that he could look at his face, brushing his thumb against his cheek. It had been too long, he eventually decides.

The peace is ruined with the abrupt sound of the bedroom door being ungracefully opened, which promptly wakes Gabriel up in a probably foul mood – he’d never been one that liked his sleep interrupted.

Jack squints up at the intruder, and with his poor eyesight it takes him a moment to recognise the smirking figure of Sombra standing over them with her arms crossed.

“Thought I’d find you in here, jefe.” The girl announces, and Jack immediately knows that this… situation is, no doubt, going to be brought up again.

Settling with just scowling at her before looking away, he watches as Gabriel sits up, eyes lit with a dark fire. He was clearly unhappy, to say the least, with the situation, but from the looks of things, Sombra didn’t seem bothered.

“Get out of here, Sombra,” He growls, to which she shrugs at before exiting the room. Jack watches Gabriel stand, stretch, and then start getting dressed.

“Get ready,” Gabriel says, voice cold compared to how gentle he’d been last night. Things were too on and off between them.  But Jack doesn’t object, or point it out, just simply nods and sits up. This was just how things were now.

Gabriel leaves without a word, leaving Jack to his thoughts as he gets dressed himself. He steps into the bathroom, the sink a blur of white and red. Soldier on, he tells himself.

Jack picks up his visor, and leaves his room in silence.

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written anything for a long time so lol


End file.
